By RODRICK DESURI
Auki
A couple who started planting seaweed without much knowledge about it last year in Langlanga Lagoon, Malaita Province are excited and ready to reap the benefit of their hard work when they sell their dried seaweed.
The couple, Mary Sede and her husband first got involved in seaweed farming with only 42 plants that they brought from South Malaita early last year.
Time has passed and now they have more than 2,000 seaweed plants on their farm, which they have harvested multiple times, completing nine 50 kg bags of seaweed.
Mrs Sede, stated that they now hope to earn money from what they have spent most of their time and hard work on.
She said that at first, there were many discouragements from their neighbors, and they didn’t have clear knowledge of whether it would be beneficial in the future, but they still cared for it as they would for other sea creatures.
“Yes, we don’t have any knowledge of how the seaweed can be sold at a high price. But my husband and I just looked after it without thinking it was sellable and can be consumed as food.
“We thought it was like other sea creatures that we love to see and engage with,” she said.
She stated that they only learned about seaweed this year.
“It is just this year that we heard about seaweed and its price. After we started to harvest, we dried it in the sun and stored it in 50 kg bags,” she said.
The couple is now excited and thinking of selling their seaweed sometime next month.
In Solomon Islands, seaweed contributes to the economy as a source of income, especially in rural communities, with the country being the largest seaweed producer in the South Pacific.
Seaweed has significant commercial value, and the global market for it is substantial and growing. The market is driven by increasing demand across various industries, including food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, agriculture, and the emerging bio-economy sector.
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